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Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat is a media franchise centered on a series of video games, originally developed by Midway Games' Chicago studio in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a video game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, but as that idea fell through, a horror-fantasy themed fighting game titled Mortal Kombat was created instead. The original game has spawned many sequels and spin-offs consisting of several action-adventure games, films (animated and live-action with its own sequel), and television series (animated and live-action), as well as a comic book series, a card game and a live-action tour. Along with Street Fighter and Tekken, Mortal Kombat has become one of the most successful fighting franchises in the history of video games and one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The series has a reputation for high levels of violent content, including, most notably, its Fatalities (finishing moves, requiring a sequence of button inputs to perform). [[Controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat|Controversies surrounding Mortal Kombat]], in part, led to the creation of the ESRB video game rating system. Early games in this series were also noted for their realistic digitized sprites and an extensive use of palette swapping to create new characters. Following Midway's bankruptcy, the Mortal Kombat development team was acquired by Warner Bros. and turned into NetherRealm Studios. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment currently owns the rights to the franchise which it rebooted in 2011. Gameplay '' arcade cabinet's control board]] The original three games and their updates, Mortal Kombat (1992), Mortal Kombat II (1993), Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), and Mortal Kombat Trilogy (1996), were styled in a 2D fighting fashion. The first two of them were played in the arcades with a joystick and five buttons: high punch, low punch, high kick, low kick, and block. Mortal Kombat 3 and its updates added a sixth "run" button. Characters in the early Mortal Kombat games play virtually identically to one another, with the only major differences being their special moves. Through the 1990s, the developer and publisher Midway Games would keep their single styled fighting moves with four attack buttons for a different array of punches and kicks and blocks. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance changed this by differentiating characters normal moves and even giving them multiple fighting styles. Beginning in Deadly Alliance and until Mortal Kombat: Deception, the characters would have three fighting styles per character: two unarmed styles, and one weapon style. Few exceptions to this arose in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, such as monster-like boss characters like Moloch and Onaga who would have only one fighting style. While most of the styles used in the series are based on real martial arts, some are entirely fictitious. Goro's fighting styles, for example, are designed to take advantage of the fact that he has four arms. For Armageddon, fighting styles were reduced to a maximum of two per character (generally one hand-to-hand combat style and one weapon style) due to the sheer number of playable characters. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe dropped the multiple fighting style trend altogether in favor of giving each character a much wider variety of special moves, but some characters still use multiple fighting styles. 2011's Mortal Kombat returned to a single 2D fighting plane although characters are rendered in 3D; unlike previous MK games, each of the controller's four attack buttons corresponds to one of the character's limbs, the buttons thus becoming front punch, back punch, front kick and back kick (front and back indicating the limb closer to and farther from the opponent, respectively). Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon feature "Konquest", a free-roaming action-adventure mode that significantly expanded on the single-player experience. Both games also include distinct minigame modes such "Chess Kombat", an action-strategy game similar to Archon. Two other bonus minigames, "Puzzle Kombat" inspired by Puzzle Fighter and "Motor Kombat" inspired by Mario Kart, feature super deformed versions of Mortal Kombat characters. The games also contain various unlockable content and hidden "cheats".Ferry Groenendijk, "All Mortal Kombat 2011 Fatalities Babalities Guide (PS3, Xbox 360" , Video Game Blogger, April 15, 2011. Finishing moves 's "Razor's Edge" Fatality being performed on Mileena in 2011's Mortal Kombat. NetherRealm Studios' Ed Boon described it as possibly the most painful-looking finishing move in the series yet ]] , Destructoid, 04.07.2011.| source = —''Street Fighter'' producer Yoshinori Ono| width = 30%|}} The defining and best-known feature of the Mortal Kombat series is its finishing move system called Fatality. An original idea behind it was to give gamers a free hit at the end of the fight. The basic Fatalities are finishing moves that allow the victorious characters to end a match in a special way by murdering their defeated, defenseless opponents in a gruesome manner, usually in the predefined ways exclusive for the given character. The only exception from this is Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, which instead features the Kreate-A-Fatality, allowing the players to perform their own Fatalities by conducting a series of violent moves chosen from a pool that is common for all characters. Other finishing moves in the various Mortal Kombat games include Animalities (introduced in Mortal Kombat 3) turning a victor into an animal to violently finish off the opponent; Brutality (introduced in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) which is bashing an opponent into pieces with a long combo of hits; and Stage Fatalities/Death Traps (introduced in the original Mortal Kombat Pit Stage where the victor can uppercut their opponent off of the platform into a bed of spikes below, and later made more difficult in Mortal Kombat II by requiring specific and different button sequences to be pressed) utilizing parts of certain stages to execute a lethal finishing move (such as a pool of acid). Mortal Kombat: Deception added the Hara-Kiri, a self-Fatality allowing the losers to engage in a suicide-based finishing move (enabling a possible race between both players to see if the winning player can finish off the losing player before the losing character can kill himself or herself first). There are also some non-violent finishing moves in the series. Friendship moves, introduced in Mortal Kombat II and resulting in displays of friendship towards the enemy instead of slaughter, were made as a comical response to the attention the series gathered due to its violent content. Also introduced in MKII was the Babality, which turns the opponent into a baby and is humorous in the same vein. Mortal Kombat 3 marked the first appearance of the Mercy, where the victor restores a minimal amount of the opponent's health bar and the fight then resumes; the player must perform a Mercy to be able to perform an Animality. Plot Characters , Reptile, and Sonya Blade at Dragon Con 2012]] Through its iterations, the series has featured scores of player characters, some of them becoming mainstays, such as Baraka, Cassie Cage, Cyrax, Ermac, Goro, Jade, Jax Briggs, Johnny Cage, Kabal, Kano, Kenshi, Kitana, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Mileena, Motaro, Nightwolf, Noob Saibot, Quan Chi, Raiden, Rain, Reptile, Sektor, Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Sheeva, Shinnok, Sindel, Smoke, Sonya Blade, Scorpion, Skarlet, Stryker, and Sub-Zero. Among them are Earth's humans and cyborgs, good and evil deities, and denizens of Outworld and other realms. Furthermore, starting with MK vs DCU, which featured several DC Universe heroes and villains, all subsequent games have included guest characters such as Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, Kratos from God of War, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, Alien (Xenomorph) from Alien, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Predator from Predator. Storyline The series takes place in a fictional universe consisting of eighteen surviving realms which, according to in-game backstories, were created by the Elder Gods. The Mortal Kombat: Deception manual described six of the realms as: "Earthrealm, home to such legendary heroes as Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage and Jax, and also under the protection of the Thunder God Raiden; Netherrealm, the fiery depths of which are inhospitable to all but the most vile, a realm of demons and shadowy warriors such as Quan Chi and Noob Saibot; Outworld, a realm of constant strife which Emperor Shao Kahn claims as his own; Seido, the Realm of Order, whose inhabitants prize structure and order above all else; the Realm of Chaos, whose inhabitants do not abide by any rules whatsoever, and where constant turmoil and change are worshipped; and Edenia, which is known for its beauty, artistic expression, and the longevity of its inhabitants." The Elder Gods decreed that the denizens of one realm could only conquer another realm by defeating the defending realm's greatest warriors in ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments. The [[Mortal Kombat (1992 video game)|first Mortal Kombat game]] takes place in Earthrealm (Earth) where seven different warriors with their own reasons for entering participated in the tournament with the eventual prize being the continued freedom of their realm, threatened with a takeover by Outworld. Among the established warriors were Liu Kang, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. With the help of the thunder god Raiden, the Earthrealm warriors were victorious and Liu Kang became the new champion of Mortal Kombat. In Mortal Kombat II, unable to deal with his minion Shang Tsung's failure, Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn lures the Earthrealm warriors to the Outworld where the Earthrealm warriors eventually defeat Shao Kahn. By the time of Mortal Kombat 3, Shao Kahn revives Edenia's (now a part of his Outworld domain) former queen Sindel in Earthrealm, combining it with Outworld as well. He then attempts to invade Earthrealm but is ultimately defeated by the Earthrealm warriors again. After Kahn's defeat, Edenia was freed from Kahn's grasp and returned to a peaceful realm, ruled by Princess Kitana. The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, features the former elder god Shinnok attempting to conquer the realms and attempting to kill the thunder god Raiden. However, he is also defeated by the Earthrealm warriors. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the evil sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung join forces to conquer the realms. By Mortal Kombat: Deception, after several fights, the sorcerers emerge victorious having killed most of Earthrealms' warriors until Raiden steps forth to oppose them. The Dragon King Onaga, who had been freed by Reptile at the end of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, had deceived Shujinko into searching for six pieces of Kamidogu, the source of Onaga's power. Onaga then confronted the alliance of Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi and thus obtained Quan Chi's amulet, the final piece of his power. Only a few warriors remained to combat against the Dragon King and his forces. Shujinko eventually triumphed over the Dragon King and removed his threat to the Mortal Kombat universe. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon the catastrophe known as Armageddon starts. Centuries before the first Mortal Kombat, Queen Delia foretold the realms would be destroyed because the power of all warriors from all the realms would rise to such greatness it would overwhelm and destabilize the realms, triggering an all-destructive chain of events. King Argus had his sons, Taven and Daegon, put into incubation who would one day be awakened to save the realms from Armageddon by defeating a firespawn known as Blaze. In the end, however, Shao Kahn is the one who defeats Blaze, causing Armageddon. The crossover Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe does not seem to share continuity with any of the other games. After the simultaneous defeats of both Shao Kahn and the alien warlord Darkseid in the DC Universe cause both villains to fuse into the entity "Dark Kahn", both the Mortal Kombat and DC Universes begin to merge. This causes the warriors and heroes to undergo bouts of uncontrollable rage and attack anyone on sight. The heroes and villains of both universes repeatedly conflict with each other, believing each other to be responsible for the catastrophe, until only Raiden and Superman remain. The two confront Dark Kahn and both realize that the other is not working for him, and team up to defeat their common foe. After Dark Kahn's defeat, the two realms unfuse, with Shao Kahn and Darkseid trapped in each other's different reality and facing eternal imprisonment. In ''Mortal Kombat'' (2011), it is revealed that the battle between the warriors of the six realms in Armageddon culminated into only two survivors: Shao Kahn and Raiden. Badly beaten, Raiden had only one last move he could make to prevent Shao Kahn from claiming the power of Blaze. He sends last-ditch visions of the entire course of the Mortal Kombat timeline to himself in the past right before the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament (first game). This transfer of information to his former self causes a rift in time, causing a new "reboot" timeline to be introduced that splits off from the original Armageddon timeline, with a new outcome of Mortal Kombat history to be written. But this story leads to even worse unforeseen events. It ends with many of the main game characters dying at the hands of Queen Sindel and Raiden accidentally killing Liu Kang in self-defense. Eventually, the Elder Gods aid Raiden in killing Shao Kahn and saving Earthrealm. But as the scene goes on it is later revealed that this was all a plan by Shinnok and Quan Chi. Mortal Kombat X sees Shinnok and Quan Chi enacting their plan, leading an army of undead revenants of those that were killed in Shao Kahn's invasion against the realms. A team of warriors led by Raiden, Johnny Cage, Kenshi Takahashi and Sonya Blade oppose Shinnok, and in the ensuing battle, Shinnok is imprisoned, Quan Chi escapes and various warriors are resurrected and freed from Shinnok's thrall. Twenty-five years later, Quan Chi resurfaces and allies himself with the insect-like D'Vorah in manipulating events that lead to Shinnok's release. Though Quan Chi is killed by a vengeful Scorpion in the process, Shinnok resumes his assault against the realms. After a grueling, protracted battle, Shinnok is defeated by Cassandra Cage representing the next generation of Earthrealm's warriors. With both Quan Chi and Shinnok gone, the undead revenants of Liu Kang and Kitana assume control of the Netherrealm and Lord Raiden now seeks to violently and preemptively protect Earthrealm from any perceived threat, throwing the severed head of Shinnok at the feet of Kitana and Liu Kang as a warning. Mortal Kombat 11 sees the architect of time and Shinnok's Mother, Kronika plans to restart the timeline after Shinnok's decapitation, where it turns out that said beheading tampered with the balance between Light and Darkness courtesy of the now corrupted Raiden. After the death of Sonya Blade & the destruction of the Cathedral of Shinnok in the NetherRealm, Liu Kang and Kitana makes a partnership with Kronika herself to commence to rewrite history with her hourglass in her Keep in the Netherrealm. Starting with a timequake that brought past versions of the likes of Shao Kahn, Liu Kang, Kitana, Kung Lao, Jade, Skarlet and Baraka to the present as well erasing Dark Raiden from existence leaving his past self to exist alone in the present due to his Immortal status. After the past Raiden and Liu Kang fight with each other, Raiden came to realize that his battle with Liu Kang is part of Kronika's machinations to have them fight to the death which occurred in alternate timelines. Knowing their combined strength can put a stop to Kronika. With Kronika now defeated and far into the past without any chance of restoring the present, the now Fire God Liu Kang took advice from a now mortal Raiden as he starts a new timeline from the dawn of time with the help of Kitana, hoping that their collaborations with each other can shape a better future and hopes of seeing Raiden again in the next timeline. Development history Origins Mortal Kombat started development in 1991 with only four people: Ed Boon (programming), John Tobias (art and story), John Vogel (graphics), and Dan Forden (sound design). According to Mortal Kombat actors Richard Divizio and Daniel Pesina, the first game actually had began as a ninja-themed project by John Tobias (a young new employee of Midway Games at the time) and them as well as Carlos Pesina, however their pitch to Tobias' boss Ed Boon was rejected by the entire management of Midway. Midway was then abortively approached to create a video game adaptation of the then-upcoming 1992 film Universal Soldier, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme,GamePro 58 (May 1994), page 28-31. and Tobias imagined a fighting game featuring a digitized version of Van Damme. Intending to make a game "a lot more hard edge, a little bit more serious, a little bit more like Enter the Dragon or Bloodsport" than contemporary cartoonish style fighting games,Reyan Ali, Ed Boon's 12 Biggest Mortal Kombat Memories , Complex.com, September 12, 2012. Tobias and Boon decided to continue their project even after the deal to use the Bloodsport license fell through. The first of Mortal Kombat characters, Johnny Cage (Daniel Pesina), became "a spoof on the whole Van Damme situation." Divizio credits himself with convincing Tobias to go back to the original idea and trying again. It was the success of Capcom's Street Fighter II: The World Warrior that finally convinced Midway Games to let the team produce their own arcade fighting game (the genre chosen by Tobias for his game as to let him use as large digitized sprites as possiblehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z7bAEMVRMU), but there was not much influence by Street Fighter II on the actual project. According to Tobias, who cited 1984's Karate Champ as an actual inspiration, they even intentionally worked on making a game different than Capcom's title in every way. Besides the digitized characters that differentiated it from its contemporaries' hand-drawn ones, one stark difference was in the very high amount of blood and violence. Capcom's senior director of communications later compared Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat by asking if the interviewer preferred the "precision and depth" of Street Fighter or the "gore and comedy" of Mortal Kombat and also stated that the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat rivalry was considered similar to the Coke and Pepsi rivalry in the 1990s. John Tobias said that his inspirations for the game's story and characters came from the Chinese mythology and some of the stories and rumored events about the Shaolin monks. Regarding the film Big Trouble in Little China, Tobias wrote that although this movie "kind of Americanized my obsession for supernatural kung fu films from China, it was not my biggest influence. My biggest influences came from Tsui Hark films -- Zu Warriors & The Swordsman. We had to get them from bootleggers in Chicago's Chinatown." In 1995, he said about their general process of designing characters for the series: "First we figure out the type, like she or he and will she/he be big or small. Then we'll get the theme of the characters, like ninja or robot. Then we'll design the costume, and while doing that we create the storyline and how s/he fits into the universe. Then we'll find an actor that kinda resembles our character." Tobias' writing and artistic input on the series ended around 2000 following the release of Mortal Kombat 4. In 2012, he said: "I knew exactly what I was going to do with a future story. A few years ago I wrote a sort of sequel to the first MK film and an advancement to the game's mythological roots."In Konversation: Mortal Kombat Online vs John Tobias - Part 2, Mortal Kombat Online, January 10, 2012. The title Mortal Kombat was the idea of pinball designer Steve Ritchie, a variation of the original name that had been simply Mortal Combat. Since then, the series often intentionally misspells the letter "K" in place of "C" for various words containing the hard C sound. According to Boon, during the MK games' development they usually spell the words correctly and only "korrect it" when one of the developers points out they should do it. Graphics The characters of the original Mortal Kombat and its initial sequels were created using digitized sprites mostly based on filmed actors, as opposed to hand-drawn graphics. Early Mortal Kombat games were known for their extensive use of palette swap, a practice of re-coloring certain sprites to appear as different characters which was used for the ninja characters. In fact, many of the most popular characters have originated as simple palette swaps. In the very first game, the male ninja fighters were essentially the same character; only the colors of their attire, fighting stance, and special techniques indicated the difference. Later games added other ninjas based on the same model, as well as several female ninja color swap characters initially also using just one base model (beginning with Kitana in Mortal Kombat II). All of them gradually became very different characters in the following installments of the series. Eventually, Mortal Kombat 4 brought the series into 3D, replacing the digitized fighters of previous games with polygon models animated using motion capture technology. Hidden content Mortal Kombat included secret characters, secret games, and other Easter eggs. Popular characters of Reptile and Jade have been originally introduced as hidden enemies, becoming playable after returning in subsequent games. There is also a hidden game of Pong in Mortal Kombat II, and Mortal Kombat 3 includes a hidden game of Galaga. Many extras in the series have only been accessible through very challenging, demanding, and sometimes coincidental requirements. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis versions contains some unique eggs, such as "Fergality". The Sega Mega-CD version also contained an additional code (known as the "Dad's Code"), which changed the names of the fighters to that of characters from the classic BBC comedy series Dad's Army. Some Easter eggs originated from in-jokes between members of the development team. One example is "Toasty", which found its way into the game in the form of a small image of sound designer Dan Forden, who would appear in the corner of the screen during gameplay (after performing an uppercut) and yell the phrase "Toasty!", originating from him saying "you're toast".https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPehYWsviUk This egg was also the key to unlocking the hidden character Smoke when it happened in the Portal stage in Mortal Kombat II. In Mortal Kombat 4, Forden would say "Toasty! 3D!" after Scorpion did his burn Fatality, a reference to the fact that it is the first 3D game of the series. "Toasty!" is also found in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, appearing randomly after the character pulls off a chain of hits, though the picture of Forden was removed for that title, but brought back for the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. Yet another private joke was the hidden character Noob Saibot, who has appeared in various versions of the game starting with Mortal Kombat II. The character's name derived from two of the series' creators' surnames, Ed Boon and John Tobias, spelled backwards. In addition, a counter for ERMACS on the game's audits screen (ERMACS being short for '''er'ror 'mac'ros''), was interpreted by some players as a reference to a hidden character in the original Mortal Kombat. The development team decided to turn the rumor into reality, introducing Ermac in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 as an unlockable secret character. The character Mokap, introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, is a tribute to Carlos Pesina, who played Raiden in MK and MKII and has served as a motion capture actor for subsequent titles in the series. Media Video games Main series The original Mortal Kombat game was released by Midway and Williams for arcade during October 1992, having since been ported to several console and home computer systems by Probe Software and released by Acclaim Entertainment. The sequel, Mortal Kombat II, was released for arcades in 1993, featuring an increased roster and improved graphics and gameplay, then ported to the numerous home systems in 1993-1995 by Probe Entertainment and Sculptured Software, released again by Acclaim; it was re-released in 2007 for the PlayStation 3. Mortal Kombat 3 followed in 1995 in both arcade and home versions. MK3 got two updates which expanded the number of characters and other features from the game: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, published that same year, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy the next year. The following game, Mortal Kombat 4, was released in 1997, marked the jump of the series to 3D rendered graphics instead of the series' previously staple digitized 2D graphics. Mortal Kombat 4 was ported to the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Microsoft Windows. Its update titled Mortal Kombat Gold was released exclusively for the Dreamcast in 1999. While to this point Mortal Kombat games were only titled with their installment number, starting with Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance in 2002, the series' naming scheme changed to favor the use of sub-titles instead. It was also at this point that the series started being targeted at consoles only, with Mortal Kombat 4 being the last game in the series to ever be released for the arcades. Deadly Alliance was released initially for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube. Deadly Alliance was also the first Mortal Kombat game to feature fully 3D gameplay, where up to Mortal Kombat 4 the gameplay had stayed in a 2D plane; this trend would continue for the following two games. The next sequel was the 2004 Mortal Kombat: Deception, released for the PS2, Xbox and GameCube. Its port for the PlayStation Portable, Mortal Kombat: Unchained, was developed by Just Games Interactive in 2006. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon was published in the same year for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and in 2007 for the Wii. In 2008, Midway released the Mortal Kombat Kollection, an anthology of the three then-most recent titles to the main franchise: Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. A ninth game in the series, a reboot titled simply Mortal Kombat, was developed by former Midway Games Chicago, now owned by Warner Bros. Games and renamed as NetherRealm Studios. It was first released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2011, and was ported for the PlayStation Vita in 2012 and for the Microsoft Windows in 2013. Its first sequel, Mortal Kombat X, was released in 2015 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A follow-up, Mortal Kombat 11, was announced in 2018 for a planned 2019 release for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. Spin-off games Besides the fighting games, there are three action-adventure titles that work as spin-offs from the Mortal Kombat storyline. Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero was released in 1997 for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64; its story is focused on the first incarnation character of Sub-Zero and is focused in the timeline of before the first Mortal Kombat game. The next action game was Mortal Kombat: Special Forces released in 2000 for the PlayStation, starring Major Jackson Briggs in his mission to destroy the Black Dragon. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks developed by Midway Studios Los Angeles was released in 2005 for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, starring Liu Kang and Kung Lao and telling an alternate version of the events between the first and second Mortal Kombat games. A similar game entitled Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice, which was to star Scorpion and again Sub-Zero, was canceled when the developers of Shaolin Monks "couldn’t do it in time and under budget". Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, a crossover fighting game between the Mortal Kombat franchise and DC Universe, was released in 2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. In 2013, Boon named the hypothetical "MKvsSF" as his dream crossover game and in 2014 he said his team has remained in touch with Capcom, but no one could resolve the incompatibility problem of Mortal Kombat being much more brutal than Street Fighter. When asked if Street Fighter series would ever do a crossover game with Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono also said it would be difficult as Mortal Kombat is a very different game from Street Fighter. Boon has also stated that he would like to do a Mortal Kombat/''Killer Instinct'' crossover game for the Xbox One, wished he could do a Marvel one too but acknowledged it as unlikely since Disney owns Marvel. Other media Films Mortal Kombat was adapted into two major motion pictures, Mortal Kombat (1995), and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), both co-developed by Threshold Entertainment and released by New Line Cinema (eventual corporate sibling, and later label, of Mortal Kombat rights holder Warner Bros.). Neither film was screened for critics prior to theatrical release. The first movie was released on August 18, 1995, grossing $23 million on its first weekend. Mortal Kombat, despite mixed reviews from critics, became a financial success, eventually grossing $70 million in the U.S. (and over $122 million worldwide) and gaining a cult following from fans of the series while jump starting the Hollywood career of its director Paul W. S. Anderson. That momentum did not carry over into John R. Leonetti's Annihilation, however, which suffered from a poor reception by critics and fans alike, grossing only $36 million in the U.S. and $51 million worldwide, compared to the first movie's worldwide intake of $122 million. The films' producer Lawrence Kasanoff then unsuccessfully kept attempting to make the third film over the years, before losing all rights to the franchise. In 2010, director Kevin Tancharoen released an eight-minute Mortal Kombat short film titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, made as a proof of concept for Tancharoen's pitch of a reboot movie franchise to Warner Brothers. Tancharoen later confirmed that while the short is entirely unofficial, it does feature the writing of Oren Uziel, who was rumored to be writing the screenplay for the third Mortal Kombat movie. In September 2011, New Line and Warner Bros. announced that Tancharoen has signed on to direct a new feature-length film from a screenplay written by Uziel, with the intention of aiming for an R rating. Shooting was expected to begin in March 2012 with a budget of well under $100 million (projected at between $40–50 million ) and a release date of 2013, but was ultimately delayed due to budget constraints, and Tancharoen started working on the second season of Legacy until problems with the film had been sorted out. However, Tancharoen quit the production in October 2013. In 2015, James Wan signed-on to a new project to produce the new film, saying he would not rush it. Simon McQuoid was hired as director in November 2016 with Greg Russo writing the script. In February 2019, Russo announced the film's script is complete. In May 2019, it was announced that the film series' reboot had entered pre-production and will be shot in South Australia, to be released on March 5, 2021. 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